


Stay the Night

by DarthAbby



Series: Our Memories are Coming Back in the Form of Someone Else [2]
Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb)
Genre: Asexual Character, Canonical Character Death, Childhood Friends, Friends to Lovers, Multi, Past Peter Parker/Gwen Stacy, ace!kate, blond peter is a mix of tobey and andrew i can and will fight you on this, it doesn't come up here but its important to me that y'all know it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-01 04:50:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18793345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthAbby/pseuds/DarthAbby
Summary: Prequel to 'Grab the Stars'Kate, MJ, and Peter grow up, grow apart, and come back together again.





	Stay the Night

**Author's Note:**

> This doesn't have a ton of plot, mostly just tracking how the three end up falling in love, but I hope everyone enjoys the fluff! And remember what happens afterwards, which is so much pain! :)

Mary Jane Watson and Katherine Bishop were friends from the moment Kate was moved to the back of the classroom in the seventh grade for being 'too disruptive.’

MJ had grinned when Kate plopped into the empty desk next to her and said that  _ she  _ thought Kate's jokes were funny, even if the teacher didn't agree.

The next day at lunch, MJ had waved Kate over to sit with her and a shy boy that she introduced as Peter Parker.

“He lives next door and helps me with math.”

Peter shifted awkwardly. “Just a little bit.”

MJ waved a hand dismissively. “I would be failing if it wasn't for you.” She turned back to Kate. “He's the smartest kid in our class. If you need help with any homework, he's the one to ask for help.”

“You should start charging.”

“Huh?” Peter looked bewildered by the suggestion.

Kate shrugged. “I've had some private tutors over the years. My dad always paid them. If a lot of people come to you for help, you should set up a proper tutoring service and charge them.”

Peter looked even more flustered, and MJ laughed. “Yeah, you're sticking around, Bishop. We're gonna be  _ great _ friends.”

* * *

The first time MJ kisses Kate, it's after the homecoming football game sophomore year. Breathless and shivering in a dark corner by the locker rooms, Kate tucks MJ's scarf more firmly into her coat before leaning in for another kiss.

“Can't tell anyone,” Kate mutters. “Not until I'm free of my dad.”

“I know,” MJ whispers back. “I know. Me, too.”

Neither of them see Peter walking by, camera in hand, there to get some action shots of the game for the school paper. He sees them, though, and something bittersweet tugs at his heart. The three of them had drifted apart when they got to high school and it was harder to get similar schedules - Kate had always been closer to MJ anyways.

He walks away as quickly and quietly as he had stumbled across them. At least they'll be happy together.

* * *

Kate knows Gwen Stacy, sort of. They had been paired up for a project once - AP History, she thinks. Gwen was pretty fun under the serious, scholarly demeanour she put up. They had written and recorded a silly cover of “ _ We Didn't Start the Fire” _ for the project, and the teacher had noted that it was 'creative and highly enjoyable.’

Gwen is top of the class - she had come from a different middle school, so it wasn't until high school that Peter finally had a challenger in class.

It's heartbreaking when Ben dies, even more so when Peter refuses to talk to anyone, even Kate and MJ. But he seems to find solace in Gwen, and Kate is happy for them, even as she wishes that she and MJ could be more public.

* * *

Kate attends Captain George Stacy's funeral. She had only met him once, when she and Gwen were working on that history project, but he was kind and funny and brought them tea with honey to prevent sore throats as they recorded and re-recorded the song over and over again, reaching for perfection.

Peter is notably absent. So is MJ, but Kate knows why that is - Anna Watson is apartment hunting after telling her husband that she had had enough.

“Hi, Gwen.”

“Kate?”

She gives her a sad smile. “I know you're probably tired of hearing 'sorry,’ so instead I'll say that your dad made the best tea.”

Gwen gives a watery laugh. “Yeah - yeah, he did.”

“Not that it's really any of my business, but Peter -?”

She shakes her head, looking down at her boots. “Haven't heard from him.”

Kate sighs. “Peter can be… stubborn. And socially stupid. Which is a terrible combination. If you don't talk to him, he won't talk to you.”

“I forgot you guys were friends.”

“Not so much these days, but I doubt he's changed that much.”

She thinks Gwen mutters “you'd be surprised,” but it's hard to tell with the rain patterning against their umbrellas.

“If you want, I'll go with you.”

It's a small gesture, but one she knows that Gwen appreciates all the way through her soul, because she closes her eyes to keep back more tears and nods.

“Tomorrow - do you still have my number?”

Kate does, and the next day she rides the train with Gwen to the nearest station to the Parker residence. And when Gwen comes back to the little coffee shop 45 minutes later, shivering and crying, Kate just gets her a large hot chocolate and sits close enough so Gwen can feel her warmth.

She doesn't ask what Peter said, but about a week and a half later, Gwen texts her one word -  _ thanks _ \- and the next day the two are dating again.

Kate smiles and curls up deeper into the blankets on MJ's bed in her mother's new apartment. As soon as Anna had signed the lease, the girls had come out to her. She was so happy for them that all she could do was hold them tightly for several minutes.

So, at least some things were getting better.

* * *

When Gwen dies, the unfortunate victim of a new supervillain, Spider-Man disappears. Peter nearly does, too.

MJ is the one to first coax him out of the house, just to go get coffee. Kate joins them after the second meeting, and they slowly work their way up from coffee to lunch.

Then there's the Rhino. And Spider-Man comes back.

And that evening Peter knocks tiredly on MJ's bedroom window, nearly falling in when she opens it, mumbling something about being out of practice. He's bruised and bloody and his nose looks like it's probably broken and he's wearing the Spider-Man suit.

MJ yells at him. Kate patches him up while cursing under her breath.

Peter just gives them both tired, sappy smiles and says “I missed you guys, too.”

* * *

Kate still can't publicly come out, not if she wants to still have access to her bank account (mostly used for paying part of Anna's rent because she pretty much lives with her and MJ full-time now) and her sister (whom Kate loves dearly, even if Susan still doesn't think their father is up to no good and keeping dark secrets).

It's so easy to draw Peter into the fold again, though. It's a strange mix of picking up where they left off, and starting over again. Because they're still MJ&Kate&Peter, but now they're also MJ&Kate&Spider-Man. And it's just two girlfriends, patching up their best friend in the middle of the night, but then it turns into two girlfriends and their boyfriend, and none of them are entirely sure how it happened. One morning they just all woke up in a tangle on MJ's bed, and it felt comfortable and safe and familiar, and it was only natural for Kate to give Peter a good morning kiss, to wake him up the same way she always wakes MJ up.

In any case, May is thrilled to see the girls again, to see Peter allowing himself to move on from Gwen.

* * *

Peter and MJ get married, because of the tax benefits more than anything. They love each other, of course, but they also love Kate, and she loves them. So, even though Peter is the one with a fifteen minute rant about marriage as a social construct, they all agree that him and MJ marrying makes the most sense.

Kate never feels left out in the cold, though. Peter and MJ work hard to make sure that she is included in everything - even during wedding preparations, she's MJ's 'best friend and maid of honor’ whose opinion 'means just as much to me as my mother's so stop asking why she's always here.’

MJ and Kate have bouquets of hyacinths and roses, and Peter has a hyacinth on his lapel. It means 'sincerity.’ Kate might not be involved in the public vows, but the three of them are the only ones in the wedding party with hyacinths - a subtle message to the world that the three of them will never let each other down, that they will always be sincere in their love for each other.

Kate goes 'on vacation’ the day after Peter and MJ leave for their honeymoon, catches up with them at the little bed and breakfast. One of her old boarding school friends (one of only about three she kept in contact with after being expelled and sent to public school in Midtown), having loudly and vigorously denounced any and everything to do with Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular, arrives that night to perform a three-way marriage ceremony for them. It's a strange mixture of half-remembered traditional rites, half-understood pagan rituals, and a lot of booze, but it's MJ&Kate&Peter and they wouldn't have it any other way - the abused little girl who used to dream of running away to Hollywood, the rich little brat who would fight anyone once and her family twice, and the shy little orphan who got super powers through a twist of fate.

In what universe would they ever have anything even close to a normal wedding?

**Author's Note:**

> so the alt PoV that I mentioned last time will probably be up next and then uhhhhh we'll see for the sequel! Thanks for reading!


End file.
